Doublebase

My whole life I have stuck with the 3 sets low reps style of lifting. Bench press, DL, squat, curls, tricep extentions, you know the normal exercises. I gained a nice amount of size eating a shit load of food and sticking to the heavy compound movements. I haven't been lifting that much lately. I have been working on the road for the past two months. I am now home for a while. Back to the normal 40 hours a week.
I basically just want to feel better. I've been eating like crap while I was on the road. Its tough to eat well when you are out there. I would like to try some type of fast paced circuit training workout. I want to feel exhausted when I am done. Like I just played a game of full court basketball. I need to sweat more. I need to detox my system. I have been hearing you guys talk about HIT for a few years now. Maybe I could try something like that. Lower my rest intervals, decrease my weight and have more diverse exercises in my program. Any ideas???

DOMS

If that's what you're looking for, you should give HIT a try. At least once anyway. It's a lot of fun. It also helped me lose 15 pounds in less than two months. The generally only last from 8 to 13 minutes, but you do a full 45 minutes worth of sets.

The only downsides that I saw were the high mental intensity and the loss of max strength.

The workouts are very mentally, not to mention physically, demanding. There were quite a few times that I talked myself out of them because I wasn't "100%".

I also lost a chunk off of my max lifts, but it all came back, and a hell of a lot more, in just a month or so.

Of course, your mileage may vary.

Doublebase

Can someone link me to a basic HIT program or some info about it. I'm kinda busy ATM.

DOMS

It's in my journal (Superhero-Like Even!).

Here are two examples:

Doublebase

What are your rest intervals? 2 secs?

DOMS

They're either the time it takes to move to the next exercise, or 20 seconds if I'm doing the same exercise.

They key to doing a good, short, HIT workout is planning and preparation.

Plan which exercises you're going to do. Make sure that the order that you pick prevents as much wasted time as possible. It even helps to write down what plates you'll need for each exercise. Because when you're doing a HIT workout, the less thinking you do during the workout the better.

If you can, put the plates that you're going to use next to the equipment. That way you don't have to waste time during the workout to go get them.

There are bunch of tips in my journal.

Doublebase

Thanks man! You're so much nicer as a mod.

Doublebase

Well... I just finished one of your HIT workouts and I feel like I'm going to throw up. Guess I did it right. It only took about 10 mins. Looked something like this
3 sets of squats
1 set of lunges
2 sets of bench press
1 set of flys

My heart was pounding and I still feel nauseus.

DOMS

"My heart was pounding and I still feel nauseus." Yeah, that sounds like a HIT workout.

You must be in pretty good shape. The first time that I did HIT I could barely breath when I finished. And my core temp was up a couple of degrees.

You did do some warm-up reps before you started your main workout, right?

And you should start a journal. You'll get a lot of positive feedback there.

danzik17

Did you ever adapt so that you didn't feel nauseous by the end? I push myself incredibly hard in the gym, as hard as I can, but with taking almost no rest in-between sets (LOVE this style) I almost never finish out my very last exercise. I'm usually so nauseous that at the end if I did 1 more rep, I was going to lose it.

That's also the reason I don't train my core as much as I used to. I do a lot of planks for my core, but I find that I can't turn upside down anymore after my workouts without something bad starting up my throat

Ron Paul 2008

Journal: Boom goes the dynamite

Doublebase

I have decent stamina from boxing. It could be a lot better though. Its been about 2 hours since my workout and I feel great now. Can't wait to do it again tomorrow.

DOMS

Yeah, after about 3 or 4 workouts I quit feeling so bad. But everyone is different. I think it was Double D that stopped doing them because he kept throwing up.

If you're looking to work your core, and punish yourself, you should really try Saxon Side Bends.

DOMS

Be careful. This sort of workout can lead to being overtrained

I think they're really fun, too. And they payoff on my PRs was gold!

danzik17

I'll give those a shot sometime, but I am much more than 3 or 4 workouts in. I've probably done this more than 40 times now, although it is much much better than it used to be.

It's weird, I hate feeling so beat up and nauseous immediately afterward, but if I take a break for a few days, I find myself missing the feeling of being so beat up and exhausted.

Ron Paul 2008

Journal: Boom goes the dynamite

danzik17

I probably should switch up my routines though, HIT is great but I'm not making a lot of progress weight wise

Ron Paul 2008

Journal: Boom goes the dynamite

DOMS

Those workouts are, strangely, addicting. I had a lot of fun trying to pack more sets into less time. Even when I didn't change a workout, I'd try to shave off time.

It's some crazy stuff, but it really paid off for me.

vortrit

HIT is good stuff. I like to sometimes combine some form of cardio with full body circuit training.

Elliptical x 5 minutes
High Rep Bench x 40
Eliptical x 5 minutes
High Rep Low Row x 40


You get the idea. This kills me when I do it but fun.

My Journal!

VILBAUGH

elliptical?? HIT??
hmmmm.

vortrit

Elliptical... like a cross trainer. It's sort of like an indoor sking machine to do cardio on.

I think it's actually HIIT meaning High Intensity Interval Training, but I may stand corrected.

My Journal!

VILBAUGH

yeah I thought so,
Its just that I dont understand why you wouldnt run, row or skip in between, even cycling would be at least more "functional" than an elliptical.

vortrit

I don't run because I have some foot problems. Jump rope, etc., is out for me too.

My Journal!

Doublebase

Bump for this great HIIT thread.